Florida voters disapprove 45 - 36 percent of the job Gov. Rick Scott is doing, continuing his
almost two-year run of negative scores, and, as he enters the second half of his term, voters say
52 - 30 percent that he does not deserve a second four-year term, according to a Quinnipiac
University poll released today.

Voters say 55 - 29 percent, including 53 - 30 percent among Republicans, they would
like another candidate to challenge Gov. Scott for the GOP nomination for governor in 2014, the
independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University poll finds.

Among potential Democratic challengers to Scott, former Gov. Charlie Crist, who
recently changed his party registration to Democrat after moving from Republican to
independent in 2010, is the best-known, followed by Alex Sink, who narrowly lost to Scott in the
2010 November election.

"Gov. Rick Scott's ratings with voters are just plain awful. The numbers cannot be
sugar-coated," said Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling
Institute. "When voters in a politician's own party want him to be challenged in a primary by
another candidate, it's difficult to see it as anything but outright rejection.

"The only bad news for the Democrats from this poll is that these numbers might give a
boost to an intra-party challenge to the governor that could produce a more electable Republican
in November of 2014. Obviously, the governor has almost two years to go until the election and
anything is possible, but he faces a herculean task in changing public opinion to his favor."

"It is worth comparing Gov. Scott's numbers with those of Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who
like Scott won a narrow victory in 2010 and had a job approval in the mid-30s during 2011. But
Kasich now has a positive job approval among Ohio voters and seems to have turned things
around," Brown added.

Crist, elected governor in 2006 as a Republican, has a 47 - 33 percent favorability rating
from all voters, including 65 - 10 percent among Democrats and 48 - 33 percent among
independents, with a negative 28 - 56 percent among Republicans.

By comparison, Scott is viewed favorably by 31 percent and unfavorably by 43 percent
of all Florida voters. His ratings by party are 55 - 18 percent among Republicans, with negatives
of 16 - 60 percent among Democrats and 25 - 48 percent among independent voters.

Ms. Sink is viewed favorably by 27 percent, and unfavorably by 14 percent, with 57
percent who haven't heard enough about her to form an opinion.

Among four other possible Democratic challengers tested - Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer,
former Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio, State Sen. Nan Rich and South Florida businessman Jack Seiler
- none has a favorability score of more than 17 percent and the "don't know enough" scores
range from 76 to 93 percent.

The only other Republican tested was Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam, who
many in the GOP think will run for governor someday. He too is unknown, with 80 percent of
voters offering no opinion and 13 percent giving a favorable opinion. Among Republicans, the
only ones allowed to vote in GOP primaries, Putnam's favorability is 17 - 3 percent,

"The rejection of Scott appears to be driven more by policy than personality: Voters like
Scott as a person 36 - 32 percent, but they dislike his policies 52 - 32 percent," Brown said.
"One bright spot - a total of 49 percent of voters are very or somewhat satisfied with the way
things are going in Florida, higher than it's been so far during Scott's term."

From December 11 - 17, Quinnipiac University surveyed 1,261 registered voters with a
margin of error of +/- 2.8 percentage points. Live interviewers call land lines and cell phones.

The Quinnipiac University Poll, directed by Douglas Schwartz, Ph.D., conducts public
opinion surveys in Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Florida, Ohio, Virginia
and the nation as a public service and for research.

For more data or RSS feed- http://www.quinnipiac.edu/polling.xml, call (203) 582-5201, or
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1. Do you approve or disapprove of the way Rick Scott is handling his job as Governor?

TREND: In general, how satisfied are you with the way things are going in Florida today; are you very satisfied, somewhat satisfied, somewhat dissatisfied or very dissatisfied? (*combined High also 63% Sep 2004)